


A Brother's Pain

by Sinsilverwind



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-02
Updated: 2015-11-02
Packaged: 2018-04-29 13:08:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5128772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sinsilverwind/pseuds/Sinsilverwind
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Being trapped in a time loop has its drawbacks.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Brother's Pain

The first time Papyrus dies, Sans breaks. He manages enough energy to get to the site and collect his brother’s scarf--the rest of Papyrus’ costume had been buried by the snow by the time Sans arrived, his dust blown away by the wind-- and then Sans settles into a long period of silent misery. He takes up residence in Papyrus’ room, clutching at the scarf like a lifeline, and forgets about his jobs and his task of judging the human. He’s too busy judging himself, anyway. All he can think about is how utterly he failed his brother, unable to save him, unable to even let him know how much he cared about him. For while Sans did, does, love his brother dearly, and is always quick to praise and defend him when talking with others, he could never bring himself to show that same affection to Papyrus, and knowing that he would never be able to crushes his non-existent heart.  
Sans wakes up in his own room to the sounds of his brother’s cooking attempts and the memories of a torn scarf lying half buried in the snow slowly fading away. Sans should question it, he _should_ , but by the time that thought registers he already has his arms wrapped around a confused Papyrus’ midsection, and he has never been able to pass up an opportunity to spend time with his brother for any reason.

The second time Papyrus dies, Sans is there, arriving just in time to see his brother be cut down. He cries out, and the kid whips towards him. Only, the kid isn’t the same scared kid he saw leaving the ruins. This kid is grinning maniacally, red eyes glinting with bloodlust as they charge at him. Sans prepares an attack, but a mixture of grief and fear throws him off, and the kid’s knife arcs down towards him.  
Sans still feels the sharp pain of the knife for a moment when he wakes up, and he checks first to make sure the wound is actually gone, and then silently heads down the hall to check that his brother is still safe in his bed. Once he’s reassured on both accounts, he takes a shortcut to his workshop and starts writing down everything he remembers that he’d previously dismissed as dreams.

By the third time Papyrus dies, Sans has pretty well worked out that they are trapped in a time loop, though he’s yet to figure out the cause. What’s more important to him is the fact that the numerous differences he’s noticed between the separate timelines indicate that his brother can be allowed to survive unscathed, and indeed does, in many cases, yet the human always decides to kill him again eventually, and Sans is tired of it.

The fourth time Papyrus dies, Sans gets his revenge. The human barely gets a step from the site where his brother fell before Sans summons his bones, and the human _breaks_. For a second he’s satisfied, but then he remembers his promise to the voice behind the door and he staggers back. The realization of how horrified his brother would be if he knew that Sans had killed the human is enough to bring him to his knees. He stays there, tears running down his skull and into the snow, until the reset hits.

Sans can’t stand the thought of his brother dying again, even if it is always eventually undone, so the next time he realizes the route the timeline is going, he races to stop it, eye blazing blue as he teleports in quick bursts, racing towards where he knows the confrontation will take place. He gets there just in time to take the blow for his brother.  
Sans awakens to frantic knocking at his bedroom door, and upon opening, catches only a glimpse of Papyrus’ teary face before he is crushed against his brother’s chest. He understands the reaction immediately, and not just because he can still see that same distraught expression in his mind’s eye, but he hugs his brother back and whispers reassuringly until he is able to convince Papyrus that it was only a nightmare, as real as the possibility that his cooking skills are anything less than spectacular, and vows to himself that no matter what, he will never mess up the timelines badly enough again that his brother will remember anything.

Eventually, Sans stops keeping track of the amount of times either of them have died. All it does is make him withdraw into himself to the extent that Papyrus notices, and while he’s fine with distancing himself from everyone else, he never wants to risk making his brother think he doesn’t care about him again. Instead he goes through life as best he can knowing that it can be undone at any moment, hanging out with his brother and, when the time comes, following the human as they take their first steps out of the Ruins and doing his best to guide them towards the right path.  
And if he hugs Papyrus a little tighter than normal the next time he sees him after his brother confronts the human, well, all it takes is a good pun to distract his brother from prying.


End file.
